Una familia americana se muda a una casa en Kioto. Resulta estar embrujada por los fantasmas de una mujer y su amante, que fueron asesinados por el marido de la mujer, así como por el fantas... Leer todoUna familia americana se muda a una casa en Kioto. Resulta estar embrujada por los fantasmas de una mujer y su amante, que fueron asesinados por el marido de la mujer, así como por el fantasma del marido, que se suicidó después.Una familia americana se muda a una casa en Kioto. Resulta estar embrujada por los fantasmas de una mujer y su amante, que fueron asesinados por el marido de la mujer, así como por el fantasma del marido, que se suicidó después.
- Dirección
- Guionistas
- Elenco
- Premios
- 4 nominaciones en total
- Shugoro
- (as Toshiyuki Sasaki)
- Assistant Mask Maker
- (as Shoji Ohara)
- Tadashi
- (as Jiro Shirai)
- Dirección
- Guionistas
- Todo el elenco y el equipo
- Producción, taquilla y más en IMDbPro
Opiniones destacadas
The film begins with a prologue set in the 19th Century, with a samurai husband killing his wife and her lover before committing suicide. A move forward to the present introduces married couple Ted & Laura, visiting Japan and moving in to the house where the tragedy took place.
No surprises as to what happens next, with the spirits of the dead starting to take over the new inhabitants with family friend Alex (McClure) assuming the role of the wife's lover.
Everything rumbles clumsily along with the elegance and grace of a charging elephant, to an inevitable ( but surprisingly downbeat ) conclusion. Main points of interest are two feeble decapitations ( 'The Omen' has a lot to answer for in promoting this as a standard horror set-piece ), and the love-making scenes featuring the doe-eyed but extremely kinky Susan George. The first is a long 'Don't Look Now' inspired piece with her hubby, complete with piano music; the second a much shorter (probably at her insistence) entanglement with McClure, both looking pretty uncomfortable. Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining and both scenes show of her fantastic knockers so all is not lost.
Overall I can't decide whether 'The House where Evil Dwells' is rubbish, watchable rubbish, or entertaining in a masochistic kind of way. If you're not into the genre there is nothing here at all, but for horror fans there is probably enough to provoke the odd rye smile and appreciative nod of respect for effort.
BEST SCENE - in any other film the big, black, tree-climbing, Japanese-muttering mechanical crabs would have stolen the show. They are eclipsed though by the legendary family meal scene, where a ghostly head appears in the daughters soup. On seeing this apparition she asks what kind of soup it is (!!!!), to be told beef and vegetable, before uttering the immortal line "Ugh - there's an awful face in my soup". If this wasn't enough the reply is "C'mon, eat your soup for Daddy." Laurel & Hardy rest in piece.
Otami (Mako Hattori), the original adulterous wife, set everything in motion by stealing an ivory-carved fetish from a witch, that Laura finds in the house and keeps as a talisman.
Pic plods along, with the transparent, double-exposure ghosts periodically moving into and possessing the leads' bodies, while causing typically unsettling phenomena in the nondescript house. Only scare occurs when Amy and a femme friend are subjected one night to a plague of insects and large "possessed" crabs, a throwback to the cute rubber beasties Connor previously spotlighted in his series of Doug McClure sci-fiers such as "The Land That Time Forgot".
Contrived final reel is quite funny, with a local Zen monk performing a "house exorcism" on cue, but Ted disobeying orders and letting Alex in, allowing the ghosts to scurry back into the house. At first the ghosts act as a rooting section for the brawling Americans, but then possess their bodies to turn the fight into a karate match and ultimately a bloodbath.
Cast is earnest in this silly assignment, with George delivering a convincing U. S. accent and shedding her clothes ably (along with the other leads) for okay softcore sex scenes. Studio work (at Toei) and views of Japan are mundane. Malevolent "House" titles in the horror genre remain a durable format, with pic falling in the realm of Dan Curtis's "Burnt Offerings" and Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" plus a nod to all those Nipponese ghost pictures such as "Kwaidan".
My review was written in May 1982 after a Midtown Manhattan screening.
¿Sabías que…?
- TriviaThe visual effects sequences featuring the Japanese ghosts were filmed utilizing an old German camera technique known as "Shauftausen". In a 2011 interview with John Kenneth Muir, director Kevin Connor said of this: "...basically you shoot the scene with one camera through a right-angled mirror. The ghost actors are on a black velvet background so you can control the density of their image as you shoot, ie you fade them in and fade them out and line them up easily with the 'live' actors. It worked very well, and of course you could see the composite dailies next day. Eventually we got this technique down to a fine art. It was important to show the ghosts in this fashion because basically it was an economical and effective process".
- Citas
Amy Fletcher: [as she is watching a blue, ghostly face making faces at her] There's an awful face in my soup!
- Versiones alternativasThe 1986 UK Warner video version was cut by 34 secs by the BBFC to edit the decapitation scenes and shots of a severed arm.
- ConexionesFeatured in The Cinema Snob: Visiting Hours (2023)
Selecciones populares
- How long is The House Where Evil Dwells?Con tecnología de Alexa
Detalles
Taquilla
- Total en EE. UU. y Canadá
- USD 667,863
- Total a nivel mundial
- USD 667,863